It’s Showtime for the Premier League starting August 11th

Published August 5th, 2007 - 15:04 GMT

World-class studios and world-class stars for the world’s favorite football league

With pre-season transfer rumours rumbling on and die-hard football fans everywhere beginning to get just a little bit nervous, the countdown to the new Premier League season on Showtime is almost over.

As owners of the exclusive broadcast rights for the world’s most popular football league, the English Premier League, Showtime will air all 380 matches from August 11th with the best live commentary and world-class studio analysis in both Arabic and English.

Showtime has dedicated new sports channels which include SHOWSPORTS 1, 2, 3 and SHOWSPORTS Extra. SHOWSPORTS 1 Arabia will be Showtime’s first Arabic sports channel, covering all the action live and exclusive from the world’s most popular league, The Premier League. With Arabic studio analysis around feature matches, involving top names from the Arab football world and Arabic commentary on all matches.

A significant investment has been made in two state-of-the-art studios in Dubai which are set to accommodate more than 500 hours of live studio coverage and 760 hours of live match broadcasting during the 2007-2008 season. The studios and equipment bring the latest technology to deliver the analysis and commentary from world class presenters in a way never seen before in the region.

Showtime’s commentary legends will provide game by game coverage, preview and review shows, live sports reporting, expert analysis, and celebrity and football pundit guests that guarantee unique coverage of the world’s best league.

In the English studio will be Rob McCaffrey, who is one of UK Sky Sports most famous personalities with over 20 years of top-flight sports broadcasting experience and he will be supported by a familiar UAE TV football pundit and ex-Celtic star Derek Whyte. The first guest on this exciting new show will be Ex England & Chelsea favourite Ray Wilkins now a highly respected voice in football in the UK.

In the Arabic studio will be Ali Alawieh, who brought the 2006 World Cup coverage to viewers across the Middle East. He will head up an expert panel of co-hosts including Khaled Al-Ghoul who has more than 20 years of TV experience, and perhaps the most knowledgeable man in the Middle East when it comes to European Football, Ali Faouz.

In addition to this multi talented, multi national team Showtime has just this week signed Abdul Rahman Mohammed who captained the UAE in the 1990 World Cup, as the weekly studio analyst. And in just a matter of days the winner of Showtime’s ‘Hezz el Malaab’ competition will be announced and he will join the Arabic sports team as a professional commentator.

“As fans around the world prepare for the 2007-2008 season of one of the world’s most popular sporting competitions, here at Showtime anticipation is set to reach a crescendo come August 11th,” said Marc-Antoine D’Halluin Showtime’s President & CEO. “We’re extremely proud of the state-of-the-art facilities we have built and the world-class teams we have in place to deliver our viewers a level of sports broadcast coverage never seen before in the region. These investments will ensure that we deliver on our promise of the best ever coverage of the world’s most popular football league”.

Games will be shown on Showtime’s dedicated new sports channels, which include SHOWSPORTS 1, 2, 3 and SHOWSPORTS Extra. When there are more than two and up to six matches being played at any one time, Showtime will air some games on other leading Showtime channels such as SHOWSERIES 1 EXTRA, SHOWSHASHA and SHOWCOMEDY EXTRA. This will ensure all 380 games are aired live and exclusive.